1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to refrigerator appliances, and in particular, to compartments and doors for compartments inside a refrigerator appliance.
2. Related Art
Innovation continues regarding configurations of refrigerators and refrigerator/freezers. One example is the types of compartments, storage structures, and functional features inside the appliance. Another example is the basic nature of the appliance itself. Top freezer or side-by-side refrigerator/freezer configurations have now been joined by bottom freezer and what are called by some “French door” bottom freezer type configurations. In the latter case, the freezer compartment is on the bottom of the appliance. The cold food section is on top. Two opposably swinging doors open up to one large cold food compartment the width and depth of the cabinet of the appliance.
To deliver features that consumers demand in these different appliance configurations is not a trivial matter. There are many competing and sometimes antagonistic factors involved.
One example is the highly-demanded feature of an automatic ice maker. To form ice, the ice-making compartment must be maintained at below-freezing temperatures developed by the appliance. This requires appropriate communication with cold air of that temperature. In contrast, the cold food section of the appliance must be supplied air at a higher temperature. Additionally, the ice maker must deposit the made ice into a container or ice bucket that also must be maintained at sub-freezing temperatures. This can be a challenge if the ice bucket is not in the freezer section.
Another example of the complexities of automatic ice making exists for the French door-type refrigerator with bottom freezer. For obvious reasons, access to the ice bucket is preferred by many to be at least at waist height or higher. A bottom freezer, of course, is lower than this. An ice maker or ice bucket outside of the freezer compartment requires delivering sub-freezing cooling away from the freezer compartment. It also requires maintaining those temperatures at the ice maker and ice bucket even though outside the freezer.
Placement of the ice bucket is in the door of the refrigerated compartment is a still further complexity. The usual gravity drop of ice from the ice maker into the ice bucket is not a trivial endeavor. Nor is creating sub-freezing temperatures at both the ice maker and ice bucket. Generally, there is a requirement of an ice container or insulated wall surrounding the ice bucket. But this can be antagonistic with, for example, user access to the ice in the ice bucket.
All of these factors must also be taken in the context that it is generally desirable to minimize material and manufacturing costs and to maximize usable space within the refrigerator appliance.
It can therefore be seen that there are many competing considerations for the designer of such appliances. Such competing interests and factors can also exist for other containers in refrigerators.